214 BULLETIN 135^ UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



a quarter of a mile inland among the rocks and bushes. On the 

 east side of Cowley Mountain, Albemarle Island, the tracks of these 

 birds were noted in the dust of the donkey trails at an altitude of 

 about 2,400 feet, and an immature bird was seen. 



Nesting. — My first experience with the nesting habits of the yellow- 

 crowned night heron was in the marshes of the upper St. Johns, in 

 Florida, on April 21, 1902. We saw one or two pairs of this species 

 in nearly all of the rookeries of small herons, found on the little 

 willow-covered islands scattered over the marsh, but found only two 

 nests. The first nest was on the outer edge of one of these islands 

 in a leaning willow, about 4 feet above the water; it was made of 

 large sticks and lined with smaller twigs; it measured 20 by 16 

 inches and contained five eggs which were on the point of hatching. 

 The other nest was similarly made and was 8 feet above the ground 

 in a clump of willows on dry land ; it was within a few yards of an 

 occupied Ward heron's nest; it contained two eggs and two young 

 birds. The old birds were quite tame in both cases and remained 

 near the nests watching us. 



We found no nests in Texas, but in Florida, in 1925, we found 

 two colonies. The first was a small mixed colony of yellow-crowned 

 and black-crowned night herons, little blue and Louisiana herons 

 and a few Ward herons in a small willow swamp on the prairie in 

 Charlotte County, found on March 5. The Ward herons had small 

 young, but the other species were building nests and had not laid at 

 that date. The water was waist deep or more, but the trees were 

 all small and none of the nests were over 9 or 10 feet above the 

 water in the slender willows. 



The other colony, on Bird Key, in Boca Ceiga Bay, Pinellas County, 

 was much larger, but it was very difficult to determine its limits, as 

 the foliage was very dense and the birds were very shy; they sneaked 

 oft' their nests when they heard us coming and kept out of sight; all 

 we saw were fleeting glimpses of departing birds, or an occasional 

 individual flying over. The nests were grouped in a grove of the 

 largest black-mangroves, where there were no other species nesting 

 except a few Louisiana herons; they were placed at moderate heights, 

 15 to 20 feet, in these trees, on the larger limbs and mostly under the 

 shade of the upper branches. When I first visited the colony, on 

 March 11, these heions were building their nests, but in April they 

 all had eggs. The nests could usually be distinguished from those 

 of the smaller herons; they were larger, thicker, and more substan- 

 tially built of heavier sticks ; but occasionally an especially well made 

 nest of a Louisiana heron could be recognized only by the smaller eggs. 



Audubon (1840) says: 



This species places its nest either high or low, according to the nature of the 

 place selected for it, and the abundance of food in the neighborhood. In the 



